Leviticus 17:8

Summary

The verse opens a new instruction that Moses is to speak to the Israelites, addressing "any man" from the house of Israel or any resident sojourner among them who offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice. It sets up the condition (identity of the offerer) for a law whose consequence follows in the next verse.

Key words

• tomar ("you will say", H0559) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular, indicating an ongoing/future instruction Moses is to deliver.
• 'ish 'ish ("a person, a person", H0376G) — the noun is doubled in sequence, a repetition pattern that in this construction conveys distributive sense ("each and every man" / "any man whatsoever").
• ger ("sojourner", H1616) — masculine singular noun with definite article, referring to a non-Israelite residing among the community.
• yagur ("he will sojourn", H1481A) — qal imperfect, describing the ongoing residence of the ger "in the midst of them" (betokham, H8432 + H9028).
• ya'aleh ("he will offer up", H5927I) — hiphil imperfect, causative stem meaning to cause to go up, i.e., to present an offering on the altar; governs both 'olah ("burnt offering", H5930A) and zavach ("sacrifice", H2077).

What the text says

The sentence begins with a conjunction and prepositional phrase, va'alehem ("and to them", H9002 + H0413 + H9038), marking this as a continuation of divine speech directed at Moses, who is then commanded to relay it: tomar ("you will say"). The addressees of the coming law are introduced through a compound subject: 'ish 'ish mibbeit Yisra'el ("a man, a man from the house of Israel") and min-hager 'asher yagur betokham ("and from the sojourner who sojourns in their midst"). The doubling of 'ish functions grammatically to universalize the referent — every individual man, without exception, from either group.

The sojourner clause is expanded with its own relative clause, 'asher yagur betokham ("who sojourns in their midst"), which specifies that the ger is not merely present but dwelling among the Israelites over time (imperfect aspect of yagur). A second relative clause, 'asher ya'aleh 'olah o zavach ("who offers up a burnt offering or a sacrifice"), attaches to both subjects and defines the action that triggers whatever regulation follows. The verb ya'aleh is hiphil, causative in force — literally "causes to go up," reflecting the physical act of placing an offering on the altar where the smoke ascends. The two offering terms, 'olah and zevach, are joined by 'o ("or", H0176A), indicating the law applies whether the offering is a whole burnt offering or another type of sacrifice.